This invention relates to a connector having a floating structure.
For example, this type of connector is disclosed in JP A 2013-229154 (Patent Document 1), the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Referring to FIG. 29, Patent Document 1 discloses three connection members (connectors) 910 and three power connectors (mating connectors) 950 which correspond to the connection members 910, respectively. Each of the connection members 910 comprises a housing member 912 which holds braided wires 914. The housing member 912 is attached to a panel (object) 920 and is movable along a predetermined plane (XZ-plane) in parallel to a surface of the panel 920. In other words, the connection member 910 has a floating structure. In contrast, the power connectors 950 are fixed to three power unit (mating object) 960, respectively. Even in a case where an arrangement of the housing members 912 in the XZ-plane is slightly different from another arrangement of the power connectors 950 in the XZ-plane, the floating structure of the connection member 910 enables the connection member 910 to be mated with the corresponding power connector 950.
As can be seen from FIG. 29, the braided wire 914 is hard to be deformed in a pitch direction (X-direction) in spite of its flexibility. Because of this reason, the housing 912 might be unsmoothly moved in the X-direction. In other words, the floating structure of the connection member 910 does not effectively work in some cases.